y<b/0 


No,  m 


HOW  LONG  HAVE  I  TO  LIVE 


WM-   ri.    MoINTOSM 

PASTOR     BAPTIST    CHMRCII. 
MARION,  ALA. 


now  LONG  HAVE  I  TO  LIVK^ 


A  serious  question,  rcarler,  and  oae  which  d 
mands  serioais  refloeLion.  Will  you  give  it,  while 
nnswer? 

1.  A  VERY  sii  )Rt"  TUfE.  The  author  of  life  h 
written  not  less  legibly  m  yoi>r  expe'rienco'  ihau  i 
his  word,  that  '•  man  that  is  born  of  a  woamn  is  - 
few  days."  When  you  shall  die  is  his  secret,  bt 
so  emphatically  is  'the  truth  uttered,  so  deeply  ir 
pressed  upon  the  things  with  which  you  are  mo 
familiar,  that  you  can  scarcely  turn  your  eyaup' 
an  ohj-H't  in' nature  tisat  does  not  remind  you  oft! 
brevity  of  human  life.  The  flower  that  bloonis  ". 
i\\i'.  w'lVsiJe,  and  tlu^  grass  upon  which  you  tre.-- 
the  falling  leaf,  and  I  lie.shadow  in  the  sunshine,  ;"- 
emblemn^of  man's  fiaij^fy.  "  He  cometh  forth  as 
Slower,  a^ld  is  cut  down  "— ''  His  days  are  as  gra: 
—  ^'  In  the'  morning  it  llourisheth  and  groweth  u}\^ 
the  evtming  it  is  cut  ilown  an(f  v/ithereth." — "  V< 
alt  do  f;tde^is  a  hviT/'  and  man  in  the  glory  •  f  f 
Wisdom  and  his  strt-ngrli  "  Beeth  ali;o  as  a  shado\ 
and  rontmuelh  nol."  The  eliangiug seasons  renu' 
iiH  that  a  soleinn  change  awaits  us  not  far  hen- 
The  (dosing  year,  sh<af(Miing  as  we  grow  older,  te 
of  a.<-.los1nglifH,  of  a.  ^iek  chamber,  a  cold  shroud, 
narrow  coffin "^   -^  v-nwuino-  ci-rave  —  of    tlse  tram 


2  Sum.  1-9,  34, 


i.iig  of   feet,  aruuiid  it,  fiud  (,1jh  oik'iice   m  whic]i  th<^ 
<W<1  are  Uh. 

Not  only  brief  is  life,  hni  wlint  fliere  '\s  pa:>ses 
with  the  speed  of  the  hghtiiin;^.  Job  says,  '*  my 
da,ys  are  swifter  than  a  weavi'i's  shuttle"  ever  mov- 
ing, 3'et  so  rapidly  that  you  cannot  kco}>  your  eye 
iipon  it.  Again  lie  f-ays,  "  my  days  are  swifter 
than  a  post ;  tiicy  fire  parsed  away  as  ih^^  swift 
ships — as  the  eagle  thj^t  hasteth  to  its  prey  " — the^ 
koTig's  messenger  that  broxiks  no  delayt — the  ship 
driven  by  mighty  winds — the  hungry  eagle  darting 
upon  its  victim.  The  testim\>ny  of  the  Psalmist  i& 
(hat  "  we  sp  Mid  our  years  jvs  a  ta^e  that  is  told." 

And  net  only  so,  but  what  is  more  tincerUt!n  Mian 
hfe  ?  Wiio  has  the  assurance  of  one  lionr  hence? 
V*ui  may  be  young,  and  lookit^g  forward  to  years 
iji  the. future,  but  upon  what  are  your  calculation,; 
i)a.sed  ?  Has  He  who  holds  your  l^o  in  flis  hand, 
told  you  that  you  sliall  reacli  old  age,  or  that  you 
shall  not  die  this  year,  that  this  night  your  boul 
shall  not  be  required  of  you  ?  No.  Docs  the  his- 
t<My  of  the  past  teach  it,  docs  your  own  observa- 
tion justify  the  bold  piesumi>tion  ?  Go  into  any" 
cemofcry,  i*ead  upon  liie  tombs  th-e  ages  of  those 
wlio  sleep  beneath  them,  and  how  does  the  iiumber 
diminish  as  you  go  from  childhood  to  yonth,  t(» 
tiitwihood,  to  middle  hfe,  and  thence  to  old  age  ; 
}iud  as  it  is  with  tiie  living,  so  is  ir  \yth  tlie  dead. 
I'ut  here  and  there  one  who  reached  l4^lhree  f;cor« 
\  ears  and  ten.  The  mf)st  vigorou.s  con.Jtitut.ioh,  the 
M.iost  careful  pieservalion  oi    health  furnish  uocer 


tain  safeguard-  against  the  inroads  of  disease  and 
death.  If  not  exposed  to  one  form,  you  are  to  an- 
otlier.  If  sickness  does  not  pale  yonr  cl/eek^  and 
waste  your  strength,  you  are  still  surrounded  by 
the  ministers, of  the  destroyer.  There  are  clouds 
for  the  fairest  raorning,  and  around  the  brightest 
prospects  of  a  mutual  lifa  is  hmig  the  drapery  of  tlie 
tomb.  " 

But  what  if  life  were  secured  to  yOti,  and  yon 
could  know  *hat  you  showld  reach  the  limit  ap- 
pointed to  man,  three  score  years  and  ten,  it  is  still 
a  short  time  that  you  have  to  live.  "What  are  they, 
or  four  score  years,  or  a  century  ?  You  will  soon 
be  there,  and  what  then?  Like  him  whose  words 
strggest  these  thoughts,  you  will  find  yourself  dying 
by  inches,  sense  after  ^^nse  departing,  and  death  n©. 
less  dreadful  when  he  does-  his  work  by  piece  meal,- 
Of  thi?,  liowever^^there  is  no  nssurance,  and  tlie 
probabilities  preponderate  the  other  way.  Our 
hearts  teach  us  a  different  lesson — our  tears  witness 
against  oar  })ope— the  air  is  pliglited  with  the  siglis 
of  the  living  for  the  early  dead,  and  every  heart 
confesses  to  the  experience  of  the  royal  preacher  that 
life  is  the  perfection  of  vanities. 

How  long  have  I  to  live? 

2.  A  VERY  LON©  TIME.  It  is  a  wonderful 
thought  that  man  shall  Hve  forever — that  he  must 
live  and  Uve  a^id  oullive  all  i-n  nature  that  shall 
perish.  This  Wb  is  but  tlie  first  step  in  yaw  exis- 
tence, but  the  infancy  of  your  being.  True,  the 
body  shall  die — *'  The  dust  shall  return  to  the  earth 


as  it  was,  and  tlie  spirit  to  Goibwho  gavG  it."  Our 
lirst  parents,  and,  Cain,  the  Hrst  murderer,  and  Abel 
tlie  first  victim,  are  living  yet,  and  Enoch  and  Noah, 
and  the  wicked  'people  of  liis  day,  and  Abraham, 
and  David,  and  Paul,  and  Pilate,  the  dead  of  every 
age,  the  evil  and  the  good,  are  living  now  just  over 
the  line  that  crosses  every  human  path,  and  shall 
live  forever  more. 

The  idea  of  an  eternnl  existence  involves  more  of 
interest  to  man  than  all  other  thought?  combined. 
It  associates  with  it  that  ot  perpetual  enjoyment  or 
sulTering.  When  I  am  told  that  I  am  destined  ever 
to  live  in  the  possession  of  my  faculties  and  sensi- 
bilities, and  that  as  a  spiritual  being,  they  are  to  be 
refined  to  a  degree  of  which,  in  my  present  ctate,  I 
can  form  no  conception,  it  becomes  a  matter  of  mo- 
mentous importance  to  nie,  and  should  awaken  jn- 
teii^e  solicitude.  God  and  his  attributes  are  at  once 
the  objects  of  cautious  contemplation.  As  an  im- 
mortal being,  bearijig  to  him  the  relation  of  a  crea- 
ture, it  greatly^  concerns  me  to  know  what  He  is, 
and  what  is  ryy  destiny.  Heaven  and  Hell  rouse 
my  hopes  or  my  fears,  as  they  could  not,  but  £or  the 
persoi  al  interest  v/hich  my  deathless  nature  gives 
me  in  them;  To  one  or  the  other  I  hasten,  there  to 
begin  an  unknown  life.  Eternity  !  What  is  it. 
Haw  bhall  we  define  it.  With  what  shall  we  com- 
pare it.  Who  ean  grasp  the  thougiit  conveyed  in 
tiiat  singhi  word.  Earthly  dialects  are  all  too  mea- 
gre to  describe  it,  and  our  minds  too  contracted  to 
receive  it.     Gould  I  cohimand  the  tongue  of  every 


nation  nml  oi  every  tribe,  and  use  tbe  boldest  fig- 
ures, and  group  around  me  images  the  most  extrav- 
agant, it  Avould  be  less  tlian  the  feeble  struggling  oi 
an  ant  beneath  tlie  tread  of  a  mammoth.  Eterni- 
ty I  It  is  the  life  time  of  God,  the  destiny  of  every 
human  being.  ~  It  is  an  affecting  thought,  my  fellow 
pilgrim  to  eterniry,  that  in  a  little  while  you  will  be 
dead.  The  wnid  will  be  sighing  through  the  gra^^s 
upon  your  grave  its  mournful  dirge  ,  your  voice 
will  be  heard  no  more;  your  form  forgotten,, and 
your  name  unbreathed,  for  tliose  that  love  you  will 
i3e  dead  too.  But  whelii  careless  feet  shall  tread  up- 
on your  dust,  and  the  mould  cover  the"inscription 
chiselled  upon  your  tomb,  you  shall  still  live — where, 
oh,  where,  und  how  1^  AH  thiirgs  connected  with 
this  life  have  an  end.  Your,  joys  and  your  sorrows, 
they  shall  end.  Your  cares  and  your  pursuits,  your 
prosperity  and  your  afflictions,  there  is  a  point. 
Avhere  they  all  terminate.  The  heart,  britnfull  of 
sorrow,  shall  cease  to  ache;  the  eyes  that  weep, 
wjll  shed  their  last  tear,  and  the  weaiy  will  rest. 
Ambition,  and  avarice,  and  pleasure  shall  end,  and 
all  beneath  the  sky.  Death  will  seize  his  last  vic- 
tim, and  have  no  more  work  to  do,  and  Time  itself 
shall  be  no  more;  But  Eiernity  knows  no  waste, 
no  end.  Its  future  duration  shall  be  your  own. 
Here- man  lives  for  a  brief  season,  and  U  seen  n-j 
more,  there  his  existence  is  stable  as  the  Ihione  (jf 
its  sovereign.  Here  he  wears  the  bonds  of  death, 
there  the  robe  ol  immortality.  . 

From  tliis  view  a  most  interesting  question,  aik] 


oTie  wlileh  my  lea.lfr  liaa  probahly  nnticipr«fpd, 
nriL^e3.  If  this  existence  is  to  be  mine,  what  is  Ui 
1)6  my  state.  .  The  gospel  reveals  two  coiiditionR, 
one  of  bli^s,  the  otfier  of  wrei-cliedness,  one  of  glo- 
!•}%  the  other  of  despair.  To  one  or  the  other  you 
are  an  heir.  Heaven  or  liell  is  yours.  If  to  Cal^ 
vary  you  have  gone,  and  laid  the  burden  of  a  guil- 
tt  nature  at  the  feet  of  Him  w;]io  bore  'he  sins  of 
many — if  those  lips  in  the  tenderness  of  divine  lovo 
liave  said  "  go  in  peace,"  then  yours  is  tiie  inheri- 
tance of  the  saints  in  light.  Be  faithful  unto  death 
and  He  wuU  give  you  a  crown  oT  life — a  crown  that 
shall  sparkle  with  gems  richer  than  the  diamonds  of 
Kings — niDre  precious  than  th'e  most  costly  jewelry 
of  earth. 

But  if  Christ  be  not  your  hope — if  you  have  not 
been  washed  in  his  blood  which  cleau^eth  us  from 
nil  sin — if  you  have  not  made  your  peace  with  Gotl 
through  faith  in  His  Son,  an  Eternity  of  unulteru- 
•  ble  agony  is  yours.  The  ])angs  of  the  second  deatli 
await  you,  and  "you  cannot  escape  them  biii.  by  ma- 
king  the  cross  of  Jesus  the  refuge  of  your  soul.  I 
come  to  invite  you  to  go  WMth  me  there,  and  be  a 
child  of  God.      ' 

Which  of  these  states  shall  bo  ymirg  and  nYine, 
dear  reader,  will  be'settled  soon.  There  is  a  last 
year  that  we;  shall  live.  Tliere  is  coming,  if  it  has 
not  come  already,  a  last- Sabbath.  You  will  soon 
liear  the  last  sermon.  The  preacher  will  soon  utter 
his  last  admonition,  and  tiie  grave  will  close  over 
us.     Days  will  dawn  and  darken,  and  ije  succeeded 


by  other  days,  and  yon r3  will  pa????,  ami  we  sliall 
sleep  in  onr  lonely  chambers,  but  this  immortal O^j^ 
where  shall  it  dwell.      What  shall  he  its  state. 

God  help  us  here  to  live  for  Ciirist,  that  hereafter 
\\'e  may  hvc  loith  Christ  forever. 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


